The Restaurant
by SunRae5
Summary: Sometimes, a name is all that it takes to draw people to a place. And sometimes, that place remains in your heart forever.


_A/N: This idea just popped into my head and I couldn't get rid of it, it had to be written. So here it is, I hope that you enjoy it. :)_

_RxExR!_

* * *

_The Restaurant_

It was as it always was, he guessed. The pale blue walls, the bright orange chairs. That strange thing on the ceiling that he swore looked like a sun but what she had always called a daffodil.

He scoffed.

There was no way in hell that the orange/yellow blob on the ceiling was a daffodil. Daffodils were not orange, they were yellow. And only yellow.

_"Well I think that it's a daffodil!" She pouted, glaring at him as he held back his laughter, it wouldn't do for him to laugh at her right now._

A smile wormed its way onto his face and he walked across the polka-dotted floor to the table. Their table. The table that they had always sat at when they met here for lunch. No matter how full their schedules, they always had time for lunch in this restaurant and it had become a habit over the years, continuing on long after they had left the Academy.

Despite its very eccentric and strange appearance, the food in this place was simply divine.

_"Oi polka, look, the floor matches you." He smirked as she blushed violently, whacking him in the side with her elbow._

_"Pervert." Despite her embarrassment, the tone was affectionate._

"Ah, Hyuuga-san, wonderful to see you again." Eri Takahashi, the daughter of Kirio, who owned the store, smiled at him as he slowly sat down.

"You say that every time." He stated gruffly and she merely grinned as she set down his cup of tea in front of him. It was the one that he always drank, with just the right amount of milk in it.

"It wouldn't be fun if I didn't." The young woman sauntered off and he refrained from rolling his eyes at her, his wife would have scolded him if he had.

He turned his attention back to the window that he was sat next to and watched the people in the streets pass by. Businessmen, lawyers, people out jogging and shopping, young couples walking hand in hand as they calmly let the world pass by as they enjoyed their bliss. His smile grew softer as he watched a young woman whack her companion on the arm, smiling as she did it.

_"Seriously, why do you always whack me?" He stared at her, attempting to decipher her complicated expression._

_She laughed, her voice tinkling as amusement shone in her eyes._

_"It's a form of affection, you idiot." Her voice was tender and his hand entwined with hers._

"Here you go, the usual." Eri set down his lunch before him and he nodded at her in thanks, taking in the strange concoction in front of him. Well, they always did manage to surprise him with their specials.

Slowly he ate his lunch, savouring the strange tastes and continuing to observe the people outside of the restaurant. It was riveting to see how completely engrossed they were in their own little worlds, never thinking far beyond what they had to complete that day.

"Natsume." He looked up, surprised to see that she was already here.

"Aren't you punctual today, Hotaru?" Honorifics had been dropped long ago and the beautiful woman merely slid into the seat in front of him, delicately shrugging her shoulders.

"The people I work with are all incompetent, I had to leave before I got infected by their stupidity." She looked up and thanked Eri as the woman put a cup of latte in front of her. She was also a regular here.

"You do know that one of those 'incompetent fools' is your son, right?" The corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement and she sniffed at the coffee before she looked at him with a condescending glare.

Completely used to it and immune to it by now, he merely took another sip of his tea and looked at her inquiringly.

"He is one of the main reasons why the rest are so incompetent." She stated in a deadpan voice and a small chuckle escaped Natsume.

"Not everyone could have inherited your intelligence, Hotaru." Both looked up to see another woman lower themself in the seat next to Natsume.

"Hello Sumire, Natsume." Another man entered behind her and Hotaru's face softened as Ruka sat down next to her. "Hotaru." He smiled and kissed her gently on the lips and Natsume and Sumire sent each other a look. Yes, those two were adorable no matter how unsuited they may have proven to be at the start.

"She was complaining about your son again." Natsume stated conversationally and Ruka sent her an exasperated look.

"What did Shiro do this time?" His exasperation was tangible.

"This time." Sumire snickered and Natsume shook his head in amusement. Shiro Nogi was one of the biggest trouble-makers ever to stalk the halls of Gakuen Alice and Ruka and Hotaru never failed to get annoyed over his antics. It was as if he had inherited none of their genes, instead being something completely different.

Personally, Natsume thought that it was karma that they had such a troublesome son, considering how not troublesome they had been as children and how they had always said that his children would be horrible.

Fate had put them back in their places with Shiro alright.

And as Hotaru launched into a long story about what Shiro had done in school that had warranted the headmaster calling her to come in once again to talk about his misbehaviour, Natsume looked over to Sumire.

"Where's Koko?" He asked and she looked at her watch impatiently.

"I don't know. He said he was going to be punctual this time but it looks like he's late again. The man just does not understand the wonders of punctuality." She huffed.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon." Yuu Tobita sat down at the table and smiled at the others there. "I seem to not be the last one this time." He mentioned and Sumire shook her head.

"I believe my husband will always beat you in that aspect Yuu." She said and Natsume joined in their conversation as they began to talk about Yuu's latest exhibition that would be going up in a week. He was excited, as always, and promised that this artwork would be his best yet.

"You always say that." Ruka commented and Yuu shook his head.

"No, you'll see what I mean when you come next week." He said, a mysterious smile on his face.

"Say, are Anna and Nonoko coming today?" Hotaru asked, a strange gleam lighting up her eyes.

"Hotaru, we will not get revenge on our son by changing his cosmetics and food with the help of Anna and Nonoko." Ruka said, a slightly disapproving tone in his voice.

"He deserves it." Hotaru said haughtily, staring her husband straight into the eyes.

"Well, we won't condone it." Anna said as she arrived with Nonoko right behind her. "Kitsu and Mochu can't make it today, both were called in for some special meeting regarding the presidential flight next week."

"The other pilots are too incompetent?" Hotaru asked, looking slightly curious.

"I do believe that 'incompetent' may be your favourite word." Sumire commented and Natsume could see that Hotaru was refraining from pulling out her Baka Gun v.80 and shooting their friend.

"You could say so." Nonoko laughed. "Anna told me that Kitsu mentioned that they were so nervous about the whole thing that they botched up the test run. Mochu's been yelling himself hoarse at them apparently and even Kitsu's stressed."

And if that wasn't a testament to something then they didn't know what was.

Natsume leaned back and let the conversation flow over him, listening attentively and every so often putting in his own two cents.

The years had treated them all well. Anna had married Kitsuneme and they had three children, with the oldest expecting their first grandchild any day now. Anna still worked in the bakery that she had set up thirty-five years ago after finishing her studies and Kitsu worked as a consultant to the younger pilots as he had stopped flying two years ago due to his eyesight beginning to deteriorate.

Mochu was a pilot alongside him and he still flew every once in a while, although lately he had complained about back aches and was considering going into early retirement, claiming that looking after any more of the younger pilots would make him 'lose even his last scrap of hair.'

He had also married, settling down with a girl two years younger than the rest of them. She hadn't known about Alices at the time but he had been forced to explain after their second child had shown strange signs of being able to communicate with them telepathically. To say he had been between a rock and a hard place would be an understatement, he had been forced to sleep on the couch for weeks.

Yuu had married Nonoko before they had divorced ten years ago, claiming that they had lived themselves apart. Strangely though, even after the divorce neither stopped seeing each other daily, despite Yuu working in the upstate art gallery in town and she in the Research Centre a couple of kilometres further away.

They were back together now and Natsume was pretty sure that their children had never been happier. The three of them had protested against the divorce and were wholly supportive of the two marrying again.

He just hoped that it would last this time, the two of them were soul mates and anyone with eyes in their skull could see that. The artistic side of Yuu and the analytical side of Nonoko just clashed about some things sometimes.

Sumire had married Koko after both of them had blundered their way through various relationships in the five years after they graduated from the Academy. Both had been ignorant of each other's feelings and none of them had to be mind-readers like Koko himself to see that they were made for each other.

Oh, they still argued about things like punctuality and such but after being married for thirty-six years and having four kids, the two of them knew how to deal with disputes.

Hotaru and Ruka had been the last of their group to marry, twelve years after graduating from the Academy. It had taken them that long, along with three break-ups, one wedding and divorce in Vegas (Ruka had managed to get Hotaru drunk - now that was something that was pure skill, considering the disposition of the Ice Queen) and a near-death experience for them to get together.

Three kids and twenty-nine years down the line they still bickered like they did when they were ten but the love that shone beneath that was very clear.

He looked up at the wall and smiled softly as he saw the picture hanging there. The corners of his eyes crinkled and he pushed his silver hair out of the way.

Mikan had been the biggest blessing in his life and he knew that he wouldn't be where he was today, alive, if it hadn't been for her. He had proposed to her on Graduation Day and she had said yes immediately. They had gotten married two months later after he returned from his last mission and their first child followed a year later.

Absently he twisted the golden wedding band on his fourth finger. The others on the table followed his gaze and smiled gently.

Two months after their third grandchild was born she passed away, finally submitting herself to the horrible disease called cancer. It still hurt to wake up in bed each morning without her there by his side but he knew that she wouldn't want him to mourn and throw away his life.

_"I'll always be by your side. And waiting on the other side for you. I love you Natsume Hyuuga."_

It wasn't perfect and he knew that if anyone of them could have changed anything about it, then they would have done it without thinking about it.

But it was as it was, and if there was one thing that Natsume had learnt from his wife, then it was that life came and went and that there were some things in life that one couldn't change.

_"I love you too Mikan Hyuuga."_

He shook himself out of his daze and despite his heart still smarting and tears pricking the back of his eyes (damn his old age, he was starting to get sentimental), he started up the conversation again.

Eventually Koko arrived and they all laughed as Sumire angrily told him off for making her worry. Hotaru's hand was entwined in Ruka's and Nonoko leaned against Yuu's shoulder while Anna animatedly told them about this wedding cake that she was making.

And once they had finished and all went their seperate ways once more, Natsume smiled as he stood outside the restaurant and looked up at the sign that read the name of the quirky place.

**Mikan's**.

It was what had drawn them all here in the first place after all and prompted them to come back here every week at the same time.

_"Look Natsume! There's a restaurant named after me!" Mikan grinned as she bounced up and down, taking his hand with her._

_"I'm sure that it's just about the tangerines that they're advertising, polka." He wasn't impressed, yet still slightly amused._

_"Come on, let's go in! Maybe it's the place where we can eat after our wedding!" And she grinned broadly from ear-to-ear and he couldn't find it in his heart to say no._

_"Okay, let's see if it's any good." And they walked through the door, hands entwined.  
_


End file.
